Youngblood | AZ Trip Pics

So what did you do on your vacation? Looked for photos of course, and drove about three weeks. Kathleen planned a Spring Arizona Trip and booked a Wyndum Condo a year ago. She also wanted to connect with extended family in the Redding and Sacramento area. We left early on March 13, blasting down I-5 to Medford, OR. and two rooms, an odd story about a bloody bed. Down past Shasta we meet up with Darleen and Aleah in Redding. It was a delightful family connection, and I tried for shots in the mixed restaurant lighting.
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After Redding, we carried on to Carmichael, NE of Sacramento to Virgina and Steve's house, where we met up with Glenda and son Steve, and Rebecca and George. We all went out to dinner, and stayed the night - thanks Virgina and Steve! After stories about a lake house, we followed Steve out for the tour - what a nice quiet place with a view.

After the Comanche launch tour, we drove through the California Gold Country, down to the town of Murphys, to visit with my old client and friend Jeff. We did some early semiconductor photos and brochures together, and he was a great client. He gave us the short intro tour, and cooked us a fine rotisserie chicken dinner. The next day was St. Patrick's Day, with quite a local parade and lots of folks to photograph. All to soon, we were back on the road, zig zagging to Barstow, stopping occasionally for green hills and windmills.

Wow, what a shift! Practically at the CA/AZ border, everything turns brown, with blue skys and clouds. At one point I missed a turn and we ended up driving dirt roads back to the highway - thanks Google. We made it to the Scottsdale Worldmark Condo at dusk and unloaded. Hungry, we found a local Mediterranean restaurant, Shawarma Express open, but we had to wait for the cooks - after Ramadan, their daily fast is broken with a meal called Iftar, and then they could cook. It was worth the wait! The next day, we stocked up at Trader Joes, and headed out to the McDowell Sonoran Preserve - what special space! It was a good intro to cactus, with many labeled and active rough trails. The low light with cloud shadows lasted only a couple minutes, but became my lead cactus shot!

After a relaxed morning we headed NE to Linda and Steve's house on the Mesa Viewpoint Golf Resort. I found the tennis courts and with no one to play with, served for an hour. Back with Linda and her local birds, Linda and Kathleen connected with adult conversations for distant sisters. Steve cooked dinner, and Shandra joined us. And the next day, After half an hour of serving and damaging my knee, we went to Shandra's nice Mesa house with the Schnauzers and lots of laughs.

On the way down to Vail to visit with our Seattle friends, Mary and Drew, we stopped in Tucson for lunch. I can't remember which museum we couldn't find, but we stumbled into the Arizona History Museum, and stayed till they closed - it was that good! Tucson certainly has a lot of interesting museums. Drew was still working when we arrived, but Mary had a new puppy and we were well entertained. We had a late dinner with grilled steaks and crashed with plans for the next day.

CACTUS DAY! Drew led us on quite a tour! First we went through the Saguaro National Park, an interesting windy road with ocasional pull-outs. By noon we were boarding the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area "tour-bus". What a fun photo exercise - shooting while moving, composing shots on the fly, mostly with the Fujifilm X-T3 w/ 50-200mm zoom or X100f w/ 23mm fixed lens. On the way back to Mary & Drew's we stopped at the Guadalajara for a wonderful dinner. Wow, I probably shot the most photos of the trip, this day. . .

Back at the Scottsdale Condo, we connected with Judy and Paul, cruising friends from Puget Sound Cruising Club, who have been living in Mexico for years. We drove SE of Scottsdale to their nice, open-air Qween Creek house, and went through the Encanterra Country Club, what a fancy place. On the way home to the condo, we stopped for one more visit with Linda, Steve and Shandra, before heading home to pack.

Leaving the condo and back on the road again, we did a long freeway drive across Arizona and lower California to Santa Clarita. It was a stressful day, hungry and tired, I grabbed the nearest hotel, an Extended Stay America. Bad hotel, with lots of issues! We certainly won’t go back there!

Heading North, out of the La Basin, we pealed off I-5 towards Coalinga and found beautiful green hills and fun roads. We stayed on the two-lane roads, briefly visiting Pinnacles National Park, and on up to Gilroy and a better hotel!

From Gilroy, we took Highway 101 up to 280 south of San Jose headed to Sonoma. Passing Page Mill, I just had to wander a few back roads to Woodside and we stopped at Roberts, a grocery store, I knew Kathleen would love. We also stopped at the vista point overlooking the Filoli Estate and Crystal Springs Reservoir. Then north through the Presidio, over the golden Gate Bridge and up to Sonoma. I've know Burton since the early Common College days and he's survived a few X-country ski trips with me. Lynne and Burton have quite a tasteful house up in the hills, perfect for the extended family and grandchildren. It was nice to see his studio, paintings, and color palettes reflected in his surroundings, as he relaxes after an architectural career. Always a good cook, Burton produced a fine pasta dinner - what a delightful visit.

We left Sonoma in the rain, headed through the redwoods and up to Eureka, stopping for a few damp photos, and side roads. Some roads were blocked, and other roads just passable. We arrived late at Eko and Philip's gracious guest house. What a delight - back in September of 2022 I got to help deliver his Hinckley Bermuda 40 down to Eureka. Their guesthouse gardens are as spectacular as I remember! The next day, Phillip and I went to the marina to see his little Cape Dory Typhoon, and the local chandlery. He gave us a fine Eureka house tour, and we had the best meal of our trip, at a little local neighborhood restaurant, the Brick and Fire Bistro. What a sweet layover day!

Continuing up the coast on 101, we wandered around Trinidad, found a light house shot, remembered my artist friend James, and ended up at the end of a few side roads. We passed the sunning elk at the red schoolhouse, and stopped at the Kuchel Visitor Center. We missed Trillium Falls, thinking I was looking for Fern Gully, but ended up on a long pothole road, turning around before Gold Beach, argh! We found waves, log jams, sunning seals, and blowing by Big Foot, I had to back up for the shadowy shot. We stopped lunch near the aquarium at Cresent City, found more waves and rock pics, and made it to Coos Bay at dusk, a good long day.

Crossing more bridges in Oregon, we took 101 to Florence, before heading East on back roads through mossy tree mountains with logging trucks, and into farmland. We were headed to Newberg, to see Dave and Judy. Dave was my climbing partner back in college, haven't seen him in ages, and now he's a retired dentist. They have a new house for hosting grandchildren, with quite a shop for Dave's woodworking projects. With their children launched, their black lab has food puzzles and toys to entertain them, and frogs and cows nearby for the proper country gentleman location - what fun!

Back on the road by 9 AM, we took back roads to Hwy 26, up to 101 and into WA near Astoria. Then we went inland on Hwy 401 and 4 up to 101 to Raymond, Montesano, Elma and Olympia. Then it was just I-5 to 99 and Seattle. Sorting out the mileage, we had driven just over 4,250 miles, and sure saw some fine country. Thanks for wading through all these pics!